Perhaps more than any other item in this book, saddle-shouldered Studio embodies my approach to design. It started with an irreverent slogan pulled from Kanye West’s prolific and utterly entertaining Twitter feed. When he would make a mistake he would quickly correct himself, adding the hashtag #ITSAPROCESS. I loved the sentiment, and the indignant mood of the runon, all-caps delivery. It became a mantra for me as I swatched, sketched, and ultimately rejected a whole book’s worth of ideas before arriving at the keepers.

This struggle is necessary, and it reminds me of another quote I hold dear, this time from Pablo Picasso: “That inspiration comes, does not depend on me; the only thing I can do is make sure it catches me working.” Studio Pullover went through many permutations, all of them serving as sketches for a moment in time—a design thought that I needed to explore. The first was a literal duplicate-stitch replica of the Kanye hashtag, but I found myself wishing for the flatter appearance of intarsia.

I painstakingly removed the lettering and grabbed a bag of vibrantly dyed curly locks, oddments from an Etsy seller comprised of the leftovers from other orders. Using the same fiber-hooking technique I chose for the Marion Collar I covered each saddle shoulder with the locks. The effect was incredibly cool, but perhaps a bit too couture for everyday wear. I landed on a heart motif as an homage to my love for wool, something I knew most knitters would readily identify with. Before hooking the heart, I used a strand of yarn to roughly outline where I wanted the motif.

This spare, geometric heart with two dangling tails at the bottom formed a third, wholly unexpected incarnation, one that I plan to replicate in another sweater, perhaps with lightweight chain. Studio ended up taking many more hours than it should have, but it felt like tending a bonsai. Each variation bent my will in a new way, forcing a thorough exploration of my goals and my perception of the audience. As ever, it’s a process… .